3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE IMPACT OF THE REVIVAL MOVEMENT IN THE NORTH WESTERN DIOCESE OF THE
5.2. Some Strengths within the Revival Movement
5.2.9. Joy and Thankfulness
Barth speaks of the covenant fulfilled in Christ's reconciling work as being central to Christianity. He says:
It would be possible and quite correct to describe the covenant fulfilled in the work of reconciliation as the heart of the subject matter of Christian faith, the origin of the Christian love, of the content of Christian hope...
Christian faith is love through, and Christian hope is hope in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (1956:3-4).
The Word of God testifies to God's intention to unite people and creation to and in him.
God's covenant will be fulfilled in Christ's work of reconciliation. Jesus Christ is represented as the one who draws people to himself and to the Father as is indicated in the Gospel of St.
John. This picture of Jesus Christ needs to be clearly presented not only to Abalokole but to all Lutheran Christians in the Diocese in which there is still much division of the Abalokole (saved ones) and Abatalokokile (unsaved ones).
2 I had so many sins, but he forgave me He brought me.
into his house, and cleansed me with the blood of His Son. Why? It is all by grace alone.
3. Lord I thank thy grace; I will always praise it.
I will tell it to all who are ignorant of it.
It was so great and I don't deserve it.
4. Lord, you who care for the poor; never deprives me of your grace. It is more precious than any possessions I have; Even during grief and death, grace will console me.
5. My God I pray you, care for me on the journey, presence and enabled me to reach your place in heavenly glory. There then I will thank you unceasingly for your Love (Empoya; 1982: 27).
This is one among many of the hymns of Luther which Abalokole love so much as it is clearly demonstrates the true experience of most of the Christians and simply paraphrases what St. Paul says in Romans 7. They sing that song with joy because Jesus Christ has saved them.
Apart from those points mentioned above, there are other benefits from the Revival Movement in the North Western Diocese. These are:
a) The Revival Movement was very strong at the grass roots level. Some Christians who entered this movement were common people such as farmers, fishermen, masons, local traders and businessmen. These groups were not highly educated. Although uneducated, they sacrificed their timeand life and had opportunity to proclaim the good news of repentance. Far beyond the diocesan boundaries, today the Haya revival is making its most important contribution to the spiritual welfare of congregations in
positions in the central administration of the country and are therefore active in Dar Es Salaam and other cities. An example is one of the respondents, Israel Katoke, who was a lecturer in history at the University of Dar Es Salaam and the lecturer at the University of Bukoba in 2002.
b) The connection between the missionaries and the Revival must be mentioned here.
That the Buhaya revival was partly due to the fact that most of missionaries so whole heartedly supported it. In the first case it was difficult for the Haya Christians and western missionaries to understand one another because of their different backgrounds, perspectives and outlooks. Although some differences occurred we can say that the revival gave a close fellowship and union between Haya Christians and Western Missionaries. One result of temporal equality was also that the Europeans in the fellowship groups were included within the group. Joe Church quotes a Kenyan saying: I have never before seen any white man admit that he had any sins." Church considers the greatest fruit of the revival to be the deep oneness and fellowship with Africans. " We found that when once we had repented and in some cases asked forgiveness for our prejudice and white superiority, a new realm in relationships was entered which altered the character of all our work" (Church 1979: 145). Warren shows also the difficulty for the missionary, who has given everything to the people to whom he has gone, to be asked if he has ever really given himself to God (Warren
1954:47). The deep experience of Revival through the Oluganda Iwa Yesu (Christ clan fellowship) and the blood brotherhood fellowship made it possible for a type of relationship to grow up between missionaries and the Haya Christians which could
not have been achieved to the same extent in any other way, a spontaneous, open friendship in which people called each other brother or sister, and more importantly, in which people could challenge, encourage, warn and take care of one another by constructive service. Here it could be argued that the revivalists reconciled with western missionaries because the Revival Movement was nothing but a revival of western values.
c) Christianity secured a base in Buhaya. Through the Revival, the North Western Diocese has experiential understanding of the presence of the Holy Spirit, of confession of sin, of future judgement, and of the righteousness and the love of God.
The Revival Movement established religious practice. The Revival was in connection
with Bible study and prayer. The Church needs to put much emphasis on these two items. Every church needs confession in order to have a healthy life. The Abalokole Revival developed a special form of confession which was agreed to be a relevant experience. The experience of revival makes the Revivalists rediscover the sources of Christianity in a new and refreshing way. Revival means a simplification of the message and at the same time a translation of it into moral terms. To the individual it is very important that personal conversion, (salvation) helps him or her to internalise the message which had hitherto remained somewhat extraneous and perhaps even foreign. The personality becomes integrated in that it is identified with the message.
d) Gradually and steadily, the Abalokole in the North Western Diocese are playing a significant role in bringing revival inside their own churches as they become more involved in preaching and in other areas of service. Edith Nshoni advocates that wherever Revival members are present they do proportionately more work in the church than nominal Christians (Interview with Edith Nshoni, Kanyinya, 12/5/2002).